Those miners and their stories have now been preserved in a DVD by Pat Paulin, which will be premiered in Glenorchy on Saturday.
Mr Paulin was sent to school in Gore, where he discovered a world outside of scheelite mining, but for the rest of his family in Glenorchy, the pursuit of the valuable ore which was used to produce tungsten became their life.
"My brothers, uncles, cousins and my father all mined for scheelite."
Scheelite (pronounced she-ite) was discovered in Glenorchy in the 1880s, prompting Mr Paulin's grandfather, who had arrived there in 1863, to start prospecting.
Later, his son George, Pat's father, who grew up to be a miner, was subsequently joined by virtually the entire family - except Pat.
"I'm pretty passionate about the business of scheelite mining, though, and the part the miners made to Glenorchy and the district."
That passion sent him on a two-year journey to make the DVD, researching the story of his own and others' forebears who were part of the challenging and, at times, lucrative industry set high on the mountains above Glenorchy.
The DVD was backed and partially funded by the Glenorchy Battery Association, which is hosting Saturday's launch.
Scheelite, as was discovered in the 1700s, could be used to produce tungsten, a mineral with a melting point of 3410degC, he said, and a hugely useful addition to other metals.
At times when his father was mining for scheelite, it fetched huge prices.
"It took about four weeks to mine a ton and he was paid 60 for it. In today's terms, that's about $70,000 for a month's work, which is not a bad reward."
But the conditions were tough.
Although the miners retreated down off the mountains for the cold winter months, it meant staying high up, in lonely conditions, during the summer.
Most of the mines were located at altitudes as high as 2000m, "above the clouds ", Mr Paulin said, where the scheelite-containing quartz was hand dug from seams in tunnels carved deep inside the mountains.
"Some were 1200ft-long [366m-long], about the length of four rugby fields."
The tunnels were also just man-sized, making the work constrained and back-breaking, as the few miners still alive to remember were able to recall for Mr Paulin.
After it was mined, the scheelite-containing rock was transported down the mountains to a stamper battery on the slopes of Lake Wakatipu, at Wyuna Station, to extract the raw scheelite by a process similar to that used for extracting gold.
Sometimes, as an added bonus, gold would also drop out during the ingenious water-based scheelite extraction, a system largely invented by the miners.
"They had to be amazing people - miners, carpenters, geologists, economists . . . jacks-of-all-trades. There's a better word for it, but I can't think of it."
Those miners who recalled their times were George Vernon, Pat Gallop and Graeme Railton, now retired but still living in the district, and able to talk about the old days.
With the assistance of a helicopter to get them to the high-altitude mines, the men recounted their stories for the DVD so the information could be archived before it was lost forever, Mr Paulin said.
"There wouldn't be half a dozen people left alive today that know this process of scheelite extraction. That's why I wanted to record it.
"I kept three things in mind the whole time I was making it - to educate, entertain and record it for archive [purposes]."
The result is a DVD which he hopes will not only preserve the story of the scheelite mines and mining life in Glenorchy, but also provide some revenue to help restore the old stamper battery at Wyuna to full working order.
• Scheelite Mining, Glenorchy District, New Zealand. A history of Mining for the Mineral Scheelite is being launched at a private function on Saturday and will be available for $29.95 from various outlets including the Lakes District and Glenorchy Museums from next Monday.
